was (12/21/82)
Some interesting information has been published in the NY Times and Asbury Park Press on Bob Brennan, the head of FJS. Apparently he has been investigated several times by the SEC. Charges range from price manipulation to "boiler room" brokerage practices. I have been solicited several times by (different) FJS brokers, who sound as though they're going through the BTL phone book. I have tracked the stocks they recommended, and noted that they were at or near long-term highs when recommended. W. Stubblebine
3211jsr (12/21/82)
There was an interesting article on FJS and Bob Brennen in Forbes about a year ago. They described a lot of questionable deals and manulipation that the SEC charged FJS of undertaking. I have also been contacted (twice at BTL) and have chosen not to deal with them. John Robertson (houxn!3211jsr) (ABI after 1/1/83)
wapd (01/27/83)
There was an article in the business section of the Sunday New York Times (Jan 23 1983, I guess) about First Jersey Securities. Basicly, it said that the owner has been in trouble with the SEC several times, with previous ventures and with this one. Suspicious stuff is going on, like 220,000 pages of documents disappearing from a locked room at the SEC. Also, they have been accused of high-pressure sales tactics and giving suspicious recommendations that border on deception of their customers. What got me was their "high-pressure" line and their way of getting recommendations, because I got such a call and several other people at BTL got calls from them. At first I thought that BTL might have given out my name to them, but maybe it was related to a change of my voter registration at the time. Anyway, the article said (according to a former employee of theirs) that on the 10th of every month, headquarters would come down and say "we've got a hot tip on stock XXX; call all of your customers". All 100 people in the room would start making phone calls, saying "we've got a hot tip on a stock and there may be a great opportunity in the next few days. Where can I get hold of you in the next 48 hours ?". The funny thing is that my call went exactly that way. It was "a hot tip on an oil stock" and "was I interested if something happened in the next day or so ?". I said I wanted to see lots of literature and think about their company first, and would they mail me something ? Two months later, no literature, no other calls. Has anyone else "heard the call" ? Bill Dietrich houxj!wapd
cfk@houxf.UUCP (10/26/83)
First Jersey and their president, Brennan(?), have been in hot water with the SEC for allegedly manipulating stock prices. Supposedly, their brokers are told to push a stock. The brokers call their accounts and tell them the stock is on the move and they should buy immediately. If enough people do this, the price is run up and FJ clients can sell out at a profit. The hitch in this is that there is sometimes no basis for the buy recommendation except to run up the price (allegedly). Is this bad for the client or simply illegal for the broker? I guess it depends on who is caught holding the bag.
daemon@decwrl.UUCP (10/27/83)
From: Ed Featherston HL01-1/P06 225-5241 <roll::featherston>
Begin Forwarded Message:
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Newsgroup : net.invest
>From : GOLD::DZEKEVICH
Organization : Digital Equipment Corp.
Subj: RE: FIRST JERSEY SECURITIES
I use FJS an a secondary broker. They specialize in high growth, low stock
price types of companies. Their brokers are aggressive, unlike a large firm
such as PWJC,MLFS,etc. When the talk to you over the phone, they sound like they are reading from a script. You have to stop them, and get them into the
conversation mode to wade through the bull.
In general, the present some good deals. Many of them, however, are securities
that they make the market in, so be a little careful. One of the last deal thatthey pushed were ITB units OTC. A great deal, and a change to make a nice profit over 2-5 years. ITB is an OTC corporation involved in horse breading. Their
last earnings net'd 1.2M from 5M revenues - 25%. They are building a race track and funded it with units consisting of a convertable and 5 year warrant. The
convertable will pay 50% of the race tracks net for 5 yrs, and then 25% as a
dividend. After 5 years, the common will pay 50% of the net, and the convertable 25%. Great protection. The warrant is already moving. Strike prices on it
are $4 for 1st. 6 mo, then $8 into the common.
SUGGESTION: If you want to be bugged by a broker a lot on low priced, growth
deal, use FJS. If you do you own thing, and get into limited partnerships,
options, annuities, bonds, etc., use Paine, Merrill, etc. FJS does have some
paperwork problems in NYC. Sometimes street name orders come registered to
you; you may get your neighbor's statement with yours; or the bill doesn't
get to you in enough time for a 5 day turn-around. These are little pains.
Regards
Joe
GOLD::DZEKEVICH
DEC ENET
Mail address : ...decvax!decwrl!rhea!gold!dzekevich
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